TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT WATER ISSUES IN NEBRASKA

"Nebraska Connects: Troubled Waters" is a series of stories, a documentary and call-in program produced by the Nebraska Public Radio Network (NPRN) focusing on water quantity issues. Topics include the conflict between ground water and surface irrigators, the use of water resources to support endangered species on the Platte and Missouri rivers, the effects of the settlement with Kansas on the use of the Republican River and the work of the Governor’s Water Policy Task Force in coming to terms with some of these issues. Carolyn Johnsen, reporter and producer of the NPRN series, says, "These issues won’t go away when the drought is over and it starts to rain."

» Listen to the "Troubled Waters" Documentary

» Listen to the "Troubled Waters" NPRN Call-in

Stories for the "Nebraska Connects: Troubled Waters" series include:

• WATER TRANSFER BILL
  4/04/03 The legislature tried to plug a hole in a dam today by advancing a bill to clarify state and local authority over groundwater.
• PLATTE SCIENCE COMMITTEE PREVIEW
  5/05/03 A summary of the “National Academies of Science Process” to preview the public hearing in Kearney (May 6) regarding the science related to listed species on the Platte River.
• WATER POLICY TASK FORCE UPDATE
  5/08/03 The Water Policy Task Force sorts out thorny issues to develop legislation to be considered in 2004. This story reviews the goals of the task force and its progress toward those goals. Johnsen also summarizes the groundwater level reports just released by the NARD.
• REPUBLICAN RIVER SETTLEMENT
  5/15/03 Irrigators Face Limits in the Republican River Basin. Learn how irrigators are adjusting to the settlement with Kansas over water use in the Republican River Basin. The ruling can be found at the Legal Information Institute.
• REPUBLICAN SETTLEMENT APPROVED
  5/19/03 The United States Supreme Court approved the settlement of a long dispute among Nebraska, Colorado and Kansas over the Republican River.
• WELL-DRILLING SPREE
  05/22/03 Nebraska is blessed with a vast supply of underground water. But after decades of unrestricted access to it, irrigators now fear that government will limit that access. Hundreds of farmers statewide have responded by digging more wells to pump more water.
• NOT IRRIGATING IS NOT THE ANSWER
  05/29/03 This story examines the effects of irrigation on the agricultural economy and how farmers conserve water while irrigating.
• SCIENCE OFFERS SOME ANSWERS
  06/05/03 A deep test well in the Sandhills reveals mysteries of the aquifer and ground water’s connection to surface water.
• PLATTE AGREEMENT: A BALANCING ACT
  6/12/03 For many years, the federal government and the states of Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska have struggled over how best to protect threatened and endangered wildlife on the Platte River. For our series, "Nebraska Connects: Troubled Waters," Carolyn Johnsen reports that the Cooperative Agreement on the Platte tries to balance farming and wildlife.
• PLATTE RIVER HABITAT SCIENCE REVIEW
  6/18/03 The Platte River in mid-Nebraska is at the center of a dispute over wildlife and water. To help resolve it, a prestigious panel of scientests is reviewing the research on endangered and threatened species on the river.
• CONFLICT OVER MISSOURI RIVER LOOMS
  6/26/03 Now that Nebraska and Kansas have worked out their differences over water in the Republican River Basin, the Missouri River is up next in the court docket. In what's become an annual event, a number of lawsuits have been filed in Federal Court over Missouri River flows.
• GROUNDWATER VS. SURFACE WATER IN PUMPKIN CREEK CASE
  7/03/03 There's an old saying, whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting. That saying is coming true in the Nebraska Panhandle, where a Morrill County ranch family that relies of surface water for irrigation from a nearby creek is challenging upstream groundwater irrigators over water rights.
• EASTERN NEBRASKA WATER NEEDS
  7/10/03 In the Nebraska Sandhills, and in other parts of drought-stricken Nebraska, the thirst for water elsewhere has brought fears that some of their precious water could be hijacked. Some of those fears are fueled by eastern Nebraska's growing population, and its increasing need for water.
• MISSOURI ENDANGERED SPECIES LAWSUIT
  7/17/03 The Missouri River drains one-sixth of the United States. It supports recreation, wildlife and navigation. It generates power and cools power plants. Because those interests often conflict, the river also feeds litigation. This year is no different except that concerns for endangered wildlife have driven the most significant lawsuit this year.
• REGIONAL WATER ISSUES
  7/24/03 The NPRN news team has recently explored water issues in Nebraska, such as who gets water, how much and who decides. Conflicts over the state's water reflect those in the region and the world--which in turn have the potential to affect water policy in Nebraska.